Majestic Messi, Bale´s bliss, Sevilla slaughtered – Barcelona´s five successive Copa del Rey finals

Thomas Tuchel was full of praise for Kai Havertz after the Germany international s star turn in Monday s 2-0 win over Everton. 

Havertz was a big-money signing by the Premier League club prior to the start of the season, having impressed in the Bundesliga for Bayer Leverkusen in recent years. 

However, after a solid beginning to his career at Stamford Bridge, the 21-year-old has found it tough going in recent months, not aided by contracting coronavirus in November. 

Prior to the win over Everton at Stamford Bridge, Havertz had scored just once and created only two assists in 20 top-flight appearances. 

But he was instrumental as Chelsea consolidated their place in the top four.

It was Havertz s neat first-time effort from a low cross that…

Best odds: 19/20

Bookmaker:

Manchester United travel to Austria to face LASK at the Linzer Stadion in the first leg of their Europa League round-of-16 encounter on Thursday evening. At the advice of the Austrian government, the hosts have decided for the game to be played behind closed doors due to the measures being implemented amid fears of the potential spread of the Coronavirus.

Having finished second in the Austrian Bundesliga last season, 12 points behind champions RB Salzburg, LASK started their European journey this term in the third round of the Champions League qualifications. They managed to get past Basel, but they were eliminated in the playoffs by Genk, which meant they had earned a place in the Europa League. They were placed in Group D, which the…

Hansi Flick joked that Thiago Alcantara told him he was staying at Bayern Munich after winning the Champions League.

Thiago helped Bayern beat Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 in the final on Sunday to clinch a sixth European Cup/Champions League title.

The Spain international is contracted until 2021 but is widely expected to leave the club, linked heavily with a move to Premier League champions Liverpool.

Bayern head coach Flick joked the midfielder would stay, but said he simply wanted to thank Thiago.

No, [Thiago] told me he s staying. No, I m joking, he told a news conference.

No, quite simply I wanted to thank him. Just as I thanked all of the players.

Can t let go

— #UCLfinal (@ChampionsLeague)

I don t know, he doesn…

Sadio Mane has a hamstring injury but Liverpool do not yet know the extent of the problem, manager Jurgen Klopp said.

The Senegal star went off in the first half of the Premier League leaders 2-1 victory at Wolves on Thursday.

Mane pulled up when running for a Mohamed Salah pass and was replaced by Takumi Minamino 33 minutes in.

Klopp hopes the injury is not serious but will wait until further checks can be carried out on Friday.

Sadio, it s a real shame he had to go off, he told BBC Sport. Hopefully, it s not too bad, just a muscle tweak, but we will see tomorrow.

Klopp added in a news conference: He felt something in the hamstring. We don t know yet; we have to wait.

40 Liverpool are only the fifth team in English Football League hist…

Laurent Courtois retains the backing of CF Montreal president Gabriel Gervais despite a miserable run of form hampering their playoff hopes ahead of Saturday s clash with Charlotte FC.

Montreal sit 13th in the Eastern Conference standings, five points adrift of the wild-card spots with seven games of the regular season remaining.

They were trounced 4-1 at FC Cincinnati prior to the international break, having suffered a humiliating 5-0 home loss to Inter Miami just one week earlier.

Despite those results, Gervais remains convinced Courtois is the right man to oversee Montreal s push for the postseason.

The expectations are the same and we want to get to the playoffs. I m optimistic and I believe in it, but it s up to the coach and the players to find so…

We re lacking confidence in certain areas. We gained a bit of confidence in midweek but do they get too overconfident? he said via the Rio Ferdinand Presents FIVE YouTube channel.

I saw Harry Maguire and a couple of his comments after the game saying maybe they were patting each other on the back too much. Get a hold of that team he s the captain.

I hope he s getting in there and getting round people and telling people listen, we aren t the finished article, we ve got loads to do, there is more from us to come, pull your socks up .

I don t know if that s going on. The captain of Man Utd. There s always been leaders in that changing room who would be going round and drilling people, either one-to-one or in front of the group. Pulling people aside, having litt…

And if that wasn t enough, I got the opportunity to play in the Premier League for Swansea City (and be part of their history by winning their first ever point in the Premier League).

Playing with and against the best players around me gave me the opportunity to keep developing myself and sign for Spurs and made me be able to be part of their history, and especially the (incredible) road to the Champions League final.

I am thankful to play for all these clubs and honoured that I was able to represent my country on international tournaments. A gold medal at the Under-21 European Championship, a silver medal during the World Cup 2010 and a bronze medal at the World Cup 2014… and I played in that last World Cup.

Vorm spent two spells at his most recent employe…

Leeds United moved top of the Championship with an emphatic 4-0 home win over struggling Middlesbrough, while Brentford stormed to a 7-0 victory over Luton Town on Saturday.

With West Brom not in action until Monday, Leeds took full advantage of the chance to reach the summit with a fifth consecutive victory.

West Brom will have the chance to go back above Marcelo Bielsa s men when they travel to face Preston North End.

Josh Dasilva scored a hat-trick for Brentford as Luton endured a chastening afternoon, and Bristol City were also big winners, thumping Huddersfield Town 5-2.

Barnsley, Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City, Reading and Sheffield Wednesday were the other triumphant teams, with Derby County drawing against QPR as Birmingham City and Millwall also …

Best Odds: 1/2

Bookmaker:

Hoping to find a route back to the top of the La Liga table on Saturday night, Real Madrid will make the trip to the Estadio El Sadar when they face off against Osasuna.

Osasuna

Starting with the hosts, while Osasuna might have picked up a routine 3-0 win against lower-league Olot in the Copa del Rey earlier in the week, that could just be a brief bounce for Los Rojillos. Although the Reds might have marked their return from Spain s festive break with a scrappy 1-1 draw against a fading Real Sociedad last week, they still find themselves firmly at the heart of a relegation scrap. Opening this weekend s fixtures sat down in 19th and chasing a two-point deficit, Head Coach Jagoba Arrasate has seen his side remarkably fail to win any of t…

Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola will go down as two of the very best managers, with their rivalry hailed as incredible by Albert Riera.

Guardiola s Manchester City lead the way by a point in the Premier League after their draw with Klopp s Liverpool at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday.

It was a repeat of the scoreline from the reverse fixture earlier this season, and is the first time since 2012-13 that they have shared two draws in one league campaign.

A topsy turvy match saw Diogo Jota hit back for Liverpool after Kevin De Bruyne opened the scoring, with Sadio Mane cancelling out Gabriel Jesus strike.

The teams will meet again in the FA Cup semi-finals and Riera, who played for both clubs, is fascinated by the rivalry and the skills of both managers.

…